THEY say never go back because it will only end in disappointment and for many sporting heroes it is true.

But just occasionally it does work out and Katherine Grainger, Scotland's most decorated female Olympic athlete, is eight months into a mission to prove it.

Grainger disputes that her return to rowing after a two-year sabbatical was a comeback, quick to remind anyone who asks that she never actually retired from rowing despite fulfilling her lifelong dream of winning an Olympic gold medal.

It was assumed that retirement would come for the Scot though; after finally winning gold, at the age of 36, following three consecutive Olympic silvers, and to do it in front of her home crowd, it seemed the perfect moment for her to hang up her oars.

So when Grainger revealed that she was returning to rowing with an eye on securing a spot in Team GB for the Rio Olympic Games next year, the decision was greeted with surprise. After two busy years of commentating, after-dinner speaking and completing her PhD, Grainger is now back in the routine she had followed for so many years previously.

"Coming back has been good. It wasn't ever going to be the smoothest path because the winter months are always hard in an outdoor sport and getting everything back after two years out was always going to be tough, but I haven't had any regrets and that's the most important thing," she says. "I've enjoyed being back as part of the team. It's been good seeing the improvements although I've had moments when I've been frustrated, annoyed, disappointed, exhausted or upset when I feel I'm not making the progress I want to but sport is like that, it's a constant roller-coaster."

Grainger is now 39, but for many great athletes as they get older, it is not the physical side that wanes, it's the mental. Not Grainger, though.

"I really do feel like I've got the same drive and level of motivation as I had before London and I think that was the important thing to test," she says. "Taking on the physical challenge was one thing, but also going from living a normal life for those two years to coming back into a world which is very one-dimensional was tough. I could only find out by coming back whether I had the same drive and the same competitive spirit because if that isn't there then you can't get through the training. But I was very happy that it all came back and I still feel as passionate and excited about racing as I ever have - to some extent, even more so."

The most commonly posed question to Grainger is why continue when that feeling of London 2012 can never be replicated? She freely admits that getting close to the feelings of winning gold at a home Olympics is an impossible task but that is not necessarily relevant.

"I don't think I can replicate London but that's not what I'm trying to do at all," she says. "There's no way that you would beat that feeling and I wouldn't want to but it doesn't mean that there isn't more that I want to achieve in my career. I want to leave London where it was, I don't want to recreate it or relive it.

"Now I've got a very different challenge but it's equally exciting. London will always be one of the most wonderful memories of my entire life but it's not the reason that I'm going on to do other things; I think that would be an unhealthy reason to keep going."

The Scot says a retirement announcement was never imminent, but her two years out has reassured her about life after her athletics career does come to an end.

"I found out that there's other things that I can do with my life and there's other things that I would be excited to do," she says. "When I was in sport I had, maybe not a worry, but I would think about what I could do next and what I would be good at. Even though it took me a while to get used to the real world, it reassured me that there is a life I can go into afterwards and that leaving sport, when I get to that point, will be OK."

Grainger's first international outing will be the European Championships in Poznan, Poland next weekend and it will be the first test of her fledgling double sculls partnership with Victoria Thornley. It will be almost three years since Grainger was in a competitive environment, something she admits is nerve-wracking.

"I'm very aware that it's been a long time so yeah, there will be nerves," she says. "I really love racing though, far more than I enjoy the training. For me, racing is the time that you really feel alive; it's not always the most comfortable but you truly know that you're living at that point. The nervousness, the adrenaline, all your senses are heightened but then as soon as you start racing, all that goes and you're in race mode. There's no way that you cannot go through those emotions; it's not the most pleasant, but if those feelings aren't there then maybe it doesn't matter enough to you."

Grainger is certain that she has made the right choice to come back but only time will tell if she is will be ultimately rewarded with medals. She disputes the assertion that her return was a risk though.

"A lot of people said it was a very brave choice to continue but actually, it wasn't," she says. "I was choosing to do what I love. I've got an opportunity to be part of an Olympic team again and I think that's as good as it ever gets. In the end, the final dec-ision was easy because what would I rather be doing than this? Nothing."